What Happens At Hogwarts
by Angelina Johnson
Summary: Jyder Hogwarts AU. Originally written for an RP meme. Probably not very good. Also probably makes no sense for people who don't know the whole story, but oh well.


**Disclaimer:** I originally wrote this as an RP meme for a Hogwarts crossover group, which explains the Harry Potter next gen characters and the weird professors and dates. I just realized as I was uploading other fanfics on here that there might be some people on here that would want to read a Jyder Hogwarts AU who aren't on Tumblr, so... yolo?

Afternoon, September 1, 2018, The Hogwarts Express

The first time Jake and Ryder meet, Ryder trips him. It's an accident, of course – his legs are just cramped from being in a tiny Hogwarts Express compartment all day, and he stretches them out into the hallway at exactly the wrong time. Jake trips over him, and from his spot on the floor, gives him something that Ryder thinks might be a death glare. Ryder scrambles to try to help him up, but Jake refuses his hand, standing up and brushing himself off. "What's your name?" he demands, and Ryder introduces himself, thinking maybe his apologies have led them to a fresh start. But instead, all Jake replies is, "You're on my list, Lynn," and then walks into the next train car.

* * *

Nighttime, September 1, 2018, The Great Hall

Ryder doesn't see Jake again for the rest of the train ride, but the grouchy guy who refused his apology sort of sours the rest of his trip, anyway. He sits in his compartment with his arms folded over his chest looking out the window, but it's okay because Lorcan and Lysander talk mostly to each other anyway. Ryder wonders if they'll get split up once it's time for the Sorting, but he's too busy worrying about his own placement to think about it too much. He spots Jake again in line to wait for the hat, though, and the other boy turns his head away defiantly, so Ryder does too…except he maybe keeps craning his neck, trying to see when he'll get called so he can figure out the name of the guy who just didn't know how to take an apology. But Ryder gets called first, and when the hat places him in Hufflepuff, his initial reaction is disappointment. His mum was a Gryffindor. His grandparents were in Gryffindor. His baby sister will probably be a Gryffindor. Hell, knowing his luck, the jerk he met on the train will even get to be a Gryffindor. But Finn Hudson welcomes him to the table happily, and then Sam Evans claps a hand on his shoulder and says he's happy to have him there, and Ryder feels a little bit more at ease. The next person to get placed into Hufflepuff with him is Lily Potter. _The_ Lily Potter, daughter of Harry and Ginny. It's a big deal, and Ryder should be excited to introduce himself to her when she sits down next to him. But he isn't; his gaze is ripped away from the pretty girl beside him when he sees train-guy finally called up to the stool. His name is Jake Puckerman, and the hat actually takes a while sorting him. But when it finally bellows out 'Slytherin!', Ryder turns to talk to Lily, saying "That figures. He was such a jerk on the train, I should have known he'd be a Slytherin." Lily makes a face but seems like she's about to ask him a question when Ryder starts complaining about Jake again, and Lily turns away the first chance she gets to talk to the person on the other side of her instead. She's not really impressed with Ryder Lynn, or his hours old grudge against his Slytherin classmate, and from then on out she really only talks to him when he's already sitting with her cousin Hugo, who gets sorted into their house at the end of the ceremony as well.

Defense Against the Dark Arts Class, October 2019

Jake and Ryder are in the same DADA class, and he's _still_ a jerk. Ryder doesn't get why, either – it would be one thing if they had Potions together, and Ryder was constantly blowing up potions on him the way he seemed to do to his new friend Henry, but he's _good_ at DADA. But Jake just scowls at him every time he did something right, and it makes Ryder ball his hands into fists in anger. He doesn't like Jake either, but it was different. Jake dislikes him for _no reason_. Ryder dislikes Jake because he's a jerk who hates him for no reason. Ryder's nice to pretty much everyone, but Jake gets under his skin. Jake makes him feel like there's something wrong with him, or he's some bad guy, when he knows he isn't. They even have some of the same friends – Lysander, mostly, although Jake and Kitty get along really well too. Jake's big brother, Puck, is best friends with Finn, and Puck likes him. He doesn't get why Jake can't see the same things in him that those guys see. All Ryder really wants is for Jake to just stop being stubborn and like him already. Jake rolls his eyes when Ryder volunteers first to try the Locomotor Mortis jinx. Ryder loses his temper and casts the spell on Jake, landing himself in detention for a week.

May 2022

They fight _all the time_. And Ryder complains about it _all the time_. Hugo's sick of hearing it and has taken to joking that the only reason Ryder talks about Jake so much is because he must be in love with him or something. Joe laughs at Hugo's comments, but doesn't disagree with him. Ryder thinks they're both idiots for even kidding about something like that. He _hates_ Jake Puckerman. That hasn't changed since the day he met him – or if it has, it's because it's gotten worse. Jake makes comments about his intelligence, about his family, about whatever he knows will make Ryder mad. Ryder makes the same comments right back. They understand each other enough to know how to piss each other off, but they don't understand each other enough to see that if they'd just stop being stubborn they'd make for great friends. But instead, they keep pushing and pushing, like it's their life mission to make the other miserable. One day, Ryder snaps. Jake calls him out on how easy things are for him, and how he gets everything handed to him. Ryder tells Jake he can't read. It's a turning point for them, and it happens so fast they don't really understand it. But suddenly Ryder's admitting things he's never told anyone else before, and Jake's confessing that he's never really fit in at Hogwarts. He envies Ryder, that he does, but honestly, Ryder would give it all up in a heartbeat if he could just be smarter and impress his mum. The fighting stops – gradually, because good things don't come overnight – but people around them notice. Hugo smirks at him. Henry starts to get jealous that Ryder's spending as much time with Jake as he spends with him. Lily Potter rolls her eyes and mutters something about 'stupid boys' when she sees them talking in the halls.

August 1, 2022, Muggle London

Their friendship's still been tentative. Neither one of them understands _why_ they felt the need to constantly jab at each other for so long, even when they insisted they despised each other. But it was like there was some pull between them, drawing them towards each other through the years, and now it's gotten them here. They're both at Marley's play over the summer when she collapses from her eating disorder. They both rush to the hospital to make sure she's okay. And, when they find out who the bitches are that made Marley so insecure that she did this to herself, they go after them…together. Ryder's never seen Jake's loyal and protective side before. Jake's never realized that Ryder's not just some wimp that doesn't ever want to make people angry. They maybe go a little overboard trashing the girl's car, but they both feel better about justice being served. They both go home that night with a newfound respect for each other. Whatever reservations they'd still had about being friends are gone.

Afternoon, August 29, 2022, Henry Finnigan's House

Ryder invites Jake to their birthday party, even though he knows it'll piss Henry off. He just can't imagine turning 16 without Jake being there by his side, even though a few months ago the idea of Jake at his birthday party would have made him cringe. Ryder and Henry open all their presents, and Ryder's kind of disappointed that none of them are from Jake. He doesn't say anything, though, because that's stupid. He knows that Jake and his mum don't exactly have a ton of money, and who cares about a birthday present, right? Jake's here, so it's not like he forgot about him. Jake pulls him aside before they cut the cake, though, and presses a tiny package into his hand. "It's nothing major or anything, so don't get all sappy on me," Jake prefaces it, but Ryder's already opening it… and he has no idea what it is. He squints at it, confused, until Jake starts to explain. "It's a Readoscope," Jake shrugged. "It reads your notes out to you. I know you have trouble with studying sometimes and I figured this might help." Ryder's jaw drops, because it's probably the most thoughtful of all his presents, but Jake just rolls his eyes. "I told you, it's no big deal – don't look at me like that," he tells Ryder, and then heads over towards the cake without another word.

Nighttime, August 29, 2022, Henry Finnigan's House

Ryder and Henry are trying to convince the people at their party that it would be cool to jelly wrestle when Jake grabs him and drags him into a circle to play some game with "the cool kids". It's mostly the rising sixth and seventh years that he'd invited, plus Kitty and Lysander and a couple others his age. Ryder doesn't even have time to ask what the rules are before the bottle's pointed at him and Santana Lopez is kissing him. It's his first kiss, and it feels… weird. Maybe it's because Ryder doesn't know what he's doing, or maybe it's because it's Santana. He's pretty sure that she's slept with half the school by now, and she's sort of trying to shove her tongue into his mouth. It's gross, and Ryder's going to quit the game as soon as it ends – except that's not how the rules work. Santana pulls away, and passes the bottle to him, telling him it's his turn. Ryder sighs, feeling kind of gipped that he wasted his first kiss on someone he doesn't even like and now he's got to do that with his second one, too. But beside him, Jake makes that face that says 'don't be a wimp,' and Ryder decides to just go ahead and do it. _Then_ he can quit. The bottle goes around and around in a circle, and Ryder can't watch. What if he has to kiss Lily Potter? She doesn't even like him. Or worse, what if he has to kiss Finn? Finn's practically like his big brother. The bottle stops. _Jake_. Ryder has to kiss Jake. His heart hammers against his chest, because this is _weird_. He's kissing a guy (which isn't that weird, because Henry and Rachel both have two gay dads), but it's someone who used to hate him, in front of a whole crowd of people. Or at least, he will be if he can figure out how to initiate it. He leans in tentatively, but Jake takes charge, grabbing the back of his head and pulling him closer. It's like fireworks are going off in his stomach, and Ryder's pretty sure _this_ is more like what kissing's supposed to be. But maybe it's just because Jake's good at it – as far as he knows, the Slytherin's the most experienced guy their year, and he isn't doing the weird tongue thing that Santana was doing, so that might be the difference. Ryder's disappointed when Jake pulls away, but he guesses that was the rules of the game. And Jake's supposed to spin now, so maybe it'll land on him and they can kiss again. Crap, no – he wasn't supposed to be thinking like that, right? All those times Hugo told Ryder he only talked about Jake so much because he had a weird hate crush on him hadn't actually been _serious_. Instead of spinning, Jake passes the bottle to Kitty, saying he needs to go refill his drink. Ryder's cheeks are still hot, blushing from the way people had stared at them when they broke apart, and Jake won't even meet his eyes when he looks at him. Worried that he's screwed up their friendship by being too into kissing him or by being bad at it or _something_ , Ryder scrambles to his feet and follows Jake into the kitchen. "What, did I slobber or something?" he asks worriedly when they're out of everyone else's earshot. Jake just smirks at him, leaning against the side of the counter. "I had a feeling you'd follow me," Jake says, but Ryder's still looking at him expectantly, because he didn't answer the question. Jake sees the look and shrugs, taking a step closer to him, and Ryder swallows thickly. "You're all right, I guess. Could use some more practice," Jake tells him, nodding away from the kitchen and towards the empty hallway. "What do you say I help you out?" Ryder follows him down the hall without hesitation, and no one sees them for the rest of the night. 


End file.
